At C2IT Consulting, we have consistently communicated our core values of Loyal Partnerships, Attentive Discovery, Economic Value, and Cohesive Teamwork. These values aren’t just something we put on a poster or list on a slide deck, but they define who we are and how we work. With that in mind, we want to share a deep dive we have taken into our values to show the benefit of applying them effectively across the whole team. Our core values influence how we serve our clients, how we engage with each other as a team, and how we show up in the broader community. They are described as follows:
Loyal Partnerships
- We’re not just service providers; we’re long-term partners. Our clients know that we’re invested in their success and that we’ll stand by them even when things get tough.
Attentive Discovery
- We listen to what clients say and dig deep to discover what they need. Understanding the true problem beneath the surface helps us create solutions that last.
Economic Value
- We aim to deliver high-impact results that meet the needs of our clients while being a sound investment.
Cohesive Teamwork
- We believe the best solutions come from working together. Our team trusts each other, communicates openly, and builds on each other’s strengths.
You can have the most talented developers and the smartest business strategies, but if the team isn’t aligned around a shared set of values, things will eventually break down. Decisions will be inconsistent, client relationships will suffer, and the team will lose trust in each other. Core values provide the foundation for a strong, unified culture. They create clarity. They make decision-making easier. They create consistency and predictability in how the team responds to challenges.
In a fast-moving industry like ours, it’s easy to let core values slip into the background by making decisions based on convenience or profit rather than principle. But at C2IT, we’ve learned that sticking to our core values, even when it’s hard, is what sets us apart. And the reason they work is because our team believes in them.
Team Buy-In is the Key
We recently asked our team to share how they see our values playing out in real life, and the feedback was incredible. As a supplement to team meetings, we wrote responses for each value and shared them out loud. Each person was able to choose a value and express their example of it being applied by them or the team collectively. By the end of each round of sharing, it was awe-inspiring to hear the way different perspectives and examples culminated to the same 4 core values. The idea of values being more than promotional buzz words really came to life.
We’d love to share some of that feedback, so for each value, we’ll share some direct quotes from the team (with names removed to protect privacy) and highlight the key themes that emerged.
Loyal Partnerships
“We have clients who’ve been with us for over a decade because they know we’ll show up when things go wrong.”
“It’s easy to walk away from a tough project, but staying with it and working through the problems is what creates trust.”
“One of our clients called us at the last minute with an urgent issue. We could’ve charged them for the emergency, but we handled it because we knew the relationship was more valuable.”
“Clients keep coming back because they know we’re not going to abandon them when things get hard.”
“Sometimes being honest means telling the client they’re wrong, but they trust us because they know we’re not just trying to sell them something.”
Key Themes
- Building long-term relationships.
- Providing honest guidance even when it’s hard to hear.
- Being reliable and available when clients need support.
Attentive Discovery
“We carefully evaluate new tools with a focus on how they fit the client’s actual needs and not just how they look on paper. Listening to the client’s pain points and goals is the first step in building something that actually works.”
“I try to avoid rushing into solutions. Asking ‘why’ a few more times can completely change the direction of a project, usually for the better.”
“We had a client who asked for a specific feature, but after deeper conversations, we realized the real problem was in their data structure. Fixing that first made the feature request unnecessary.”
“Clients don’t always know what they need. Part of our job is figuring that out for them.”
“Sometimes discovery feels slow, but it saves so much time later when you actually know what the client wants.”
Key Themes:
- Active listening and asking better questions.
- Understanding the deeper business problem, not just the surface request.
- Providing strategic guidance rather than just delivering what’s asked for.
Economic Value
“We try to provide the most value without overbuilding. If something doesn’t make business sense, we suggest an alternative.”
“Sometimes clients want the biggest and best, but that’s not always what’s right for them. We help them see the long-term costs.”
“I’ve stopped being afraid to recommend a cheaper solution if it gets the same results.”
“Economic value doesn’t always mean the cheapest solution. Sometimes the smartest solution costs more upfront but saves more long-term.”
“We had a client who wanted a major rebuild. After we reviewed their goals, we showed them how a phased approach would work better, and they saved thousands.”
Key Themes:
- Delivering sustainable and cost-effective solutions.
- Finding smarter alternatives to expensive or complex solutions.
- Balancing business goals with budget constraints.
Cohesive Teamwork
“I make sure to communicate and invite advice from the team because collaboration almost always leads to a better solution.”
“I’ve learned to trust the other teams more, especially the dev team. When I don’t understand something, they’re usually right.”
“We’re getting better at communicating during handoffs. It used to feel like things were getting lost, but now I feel like there’s more clarity.”
“I used to feel like I needed to solve everything myself. Now I realize that asking for help is actually part of doing the job well.”
“When we work together and check in more often, things don’t get dropped, and the final result is always better.”
Key Themes:
- Open communication and collaboration across teams.
- Trust and valuing different perspectives.
- Clear handoffs and consistent follow-through.
This spoke volumes. The responses were honest and gave specific, practical examples of how they see our values showing up in their work, truly showing an understanding of how they’re applied. It was very clear that a value-driven company culture is built by the team collectively. We’re proud of the culture we’ve built at C2IT, but we know we can always improve.
Over our next few posts, we’ll take a deeper look at each value and discuss their current and historical applications.
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